From Asa Gray   6 February 1877

Cambridge

Feb. 6, 1877

Dear Darwin

Specimens in herb. glued down had to detach & present satisfactorily. And I have lately culled out & sent away superfluous sheets from herb. in Polemoniaceæ   But I send you a little of Gilia pulchella = aggregata.1 Under some of its names seeds are to be had. Get & raise various lots.

It is because Phlox subulata2 is a common plant that I can’t help you. much   Common plants always get sparingly into herbaria. But I can fish up some flowers & buds for you.

Note that long stamens do not go with short style & vice versa.—

A hasty line—being post-day.

You have not sent me title page & preface to Orchid-book. Rest of sheets complete.3

In haste | Ever Yours | Asa Gray

Dont hesitate to ask every thing of me, tho, you get little.

CD annotations

1.1 Specimens … lots. 1.4] crossed pencil
3.1 Note … versa.— ] scored pencil and red crayon
1
Gilia aggregata is a synonym of Ipomopsis aggregata (scarlet gilia), a species in the phlox family (Polemoniaceae; see letter to Asa Gray, 23 January 1877 and n. 3). See also Forms of flowers, pp. 118–19.
2
On CD’s interest in Phlox subulata (moss phlox), see the letter to Asa Gray, 23 January 1877 and n. 2.
3
Gray had requested proof-sheets of Orchids 2d ed. in order to write a notice of the book (see Correspondence vol. 24, letter from Asa Gray, 12 November 1876).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10830,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10830